Speaker Series: Debbie Schildkraut

The Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship Speaker Series Presents:

A Tale of Two States: How State Immigration Climate Affects Belonging to State and Country Among Latinos

Debbie Schildkraut (Tufts University)

Abstract: This study assesses the impact that different immigrant policy trajectories have on how Latinos feel about themselves, about their place in their state and country, and about how they think they are viewed by their state and country compatriots. We focus on Arizona and New Mexico because of their demographic and geographic similarities yet differing approaches to immigrant policy. Using data from a telephone survey conducted in both states in 2016, we find that Latinos in Arizona are indeed less likely to express feelings of belonging than Latinos in New Mexico. Their alienation, however is confined to the state level: by and large, Latinos in Arizona do not differ from Latinos in New Mexico when asked about their sense of belonging in the United States. We also find that it is the U.S.-born who are most sensitive to the state climate regarding immigration. We repeatedly find that living in Arizona increases alienation for the U.S.-born more than for the foreign born.

The talk will be in English.

This series is sponsored by the Inter-university Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship (http://csdc-cecd.ca/) which is funded by the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC)